Help & Advice

Why does my water taste or smell of chlorine?

Chlorine is added during water treatment as a disinfectant to kill harmful bacteria.

This is to ensure the quality of the drinking water is maintained through the pipe network to the point when it reaches your tap.

The very low concentrations of chlorine used to clean water are entirely harmless and continually monitored. Water leaving our treatment works will contain less than one part per million of chlorine and this will reduce further before reaching your home.

Some people are more sensitive than others to the smell or taste of chlorine and may become aware of occasional changes in chlorine levels in their tap water.

For example, the taste of chlorine may be more noticeable at times of day when water use is high. This is because as the water is reaching you quicker and contains more chlorine than when it has been standing in the pipes.

Levels of chlorine may also become more noticeable if we’ve been working on the water mains or if we have to supply you with water from a different water treatment works.

If you find the taste of chlorine unacceptable, a good solution is to fill a jug of tap water and keep it in the fridge. Not only will the chilled water taste better, it will lose that chlorine smell. Keep the jug covered and do not keep any water for more than 24 hours.

If you are still worried about the taste or smell of your drinking water please contact us.